US-Iran Tensions Put India’s Rupee Back Under Pressure as Oil Climbs

US-Iran Tensions Put India’s Rupee Back Under Pressure as Oil Climbs Good morning... I’m Ashutosh Joshi in Mumbai with your pre-market briefing for Thursday. Indian stocks and the rupee have surrendered a good chunk of their hard-won recent gains as ongoing US strikes in Iran drive a rebound in oil prices. The Nifty 50 stock benchmark lost 2.1% on Wednesday while the currency ended at its lowest since June 11. The concern over energy supplies is clear — India is considering options including holding talks with Iran in order to secure safe passage for at least nine laden tankers waiting in the Persian Gulf. One silver lining for markets is that global funds appear to be using the stock declines to pick up bargains. Provisional exchange data showed foreigners bought a net 20 billion rupees of shares in the last session. Also, State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, has so far raised more than $1.5 billion from foreign-currency deposits under a special program launched last month for overseas citizens. These flows are crucial as the rupee is moving closer to erasing the advance seen after the support measures announced last month. Meanwhile, stock traders will be watching the 23,800 mark on the Nifty as the benchmark is close to testing its 50-day moving average. IT shares will likely be in focus today ahead of bellwether TCS’s results post-market. In today’s newsletter, we write about: